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carlos1979's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
5.0
A really well researched book running through the main sightings and the characters behind them.
A must for anyone who believes in Nessie.
A must for anyone who believes in Nessie.
octavia_cade's review
4.0
A well-written, thoroughly researched, and entertaining piece about the history of the search for the Loch Ness Monster. It succeeds, unhappily, in convincing me that the thing does not exist (to be fair, I never really believed that it did but hope springs eternal). I find, though, after reading this, that the absence of the monster doesn't make the story less interesting - instead of the story of the search for a cryptid, it's become the story of a search for what we want to believe, the wonder and whimsy of a natural world that we still don't fully understand, and the lengths that people will go to to encourage or maintain that desire to believe. This is fascinating stuff in itself, and something that I can understand on a personal level: being persuaded, as I am now, that the monster does not exist, I still want to visit Loch Ness in the hope that something weird and serpentine will turn up. If that isn't the persuasiveness and attraction of legend I don't know what is.
efbeckett's review
5.0
As a kid I was briefly intrigued by the Loch Ness Monster, but was turned off by all of the books I found on the subject - so many pictures of men in diving costumes and scientific diagrams of sonar and the like. I was a dumb kid, I wanted to see the monster!
Little would I have expected then that the most interesting thing about the whole affair were the people who devoted their lives to finding the monster or, at the very least, scamming a few people into believing their version of the monster. Williams presents the history of the Loch Ness adventure in an entertaining manner which is as objective as I can imagine a telling of this story to be, though die-hard believers may disagree and find the final chapters unfairly let the air out of cherished evidence.
A funny, always interesting, and enjoyable page-turner.
Little would I have expected then that the most interesting thing about the whole affair were the people who devoted their lives to finding the monster or, at the very least, scamming a few people into believing their version of the monster. Williams presents the history of the Loch Ness adventure in an entertaining manner which is as objective as I can imagine a telling of this story to be, though die-hard believers may disagree and find the final chapters unfairly let the air out of cherished evidence.
A funny, always interesting, and enjoyable page-turner.
muninnherself's review against another edition
5.0
Ah, this is great. I really liked the structure - which is a straight run through of the history of the Monster in the 20th century, from the beginnings of the 'flap' in 1933 onwards, introducing all the players: Constance Whyte, Sir Peter Scott, Tim Dinsdale etc. and with excellent reproductions of all the best known images, some of which, despite years of paying attention, I hadn't seen before. It's really amazingly detailed and quite funny, and presented in as non-judgemental a way as possible . Then there's a fab summary of all the various theories before he starts in on the debunking, which is all done calmly and with no eye-rolling. Considering how het up people get about the LNM it's delightfully balanced, or so it seemed to me. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the LNM, the growth of cryptozoology, science versus belief, and the endlessly dubious behaviour of the Daily Mail. Top stuff.
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